Nothing

Yo man, yo gal
So you think you are nothing?
Wait, do you really think you are nothing?
Nothing can't breathe, and nothing can't read what I'm writing
Nothing can't tread the earth, and nothing can't bleed with life
Nothing ain't nuthin'

Listen bruh, and listen bae...

There is a tale I used to hear of old, of near-old
Buddies used to shout and sing it all over
It went somethin' this;
"Yo, there ain't no way somebody's gonna roll
And roll really deep
Yeah, deep like pizzas down the raw yo
Without being sumthin
To roll like you really rolling, you gotta be sumthin
And you ain't gotta be sumthin by being nothing
Nothing ain't nuthin..."

Later, I realized this;

There's a time when one thinks they are nothing
And they depend on men and women to validate their worth
And they worship them
For they long for the filling of that emptiness and the scraping away of nothingness
And loneliness and ill relationships creep into their lives while trynna be something
They travail in the agony of nothingness
And plead with mankind to fill their emptiness
Men trample on their worth and feed on it
Women drink their blood and spit on their cloth
Exhaustion, regret, pain and blackmail take their toll
Hatred, dishonesty, imbalance and low self esteem create their fall
Leaving them without meaning and with a destiny forged by the arms of men...
But ain't they something?
Wain't we all created in God's awesomeness? In His image?
Ain't we, therefore, all awesome?

Listen...

We may all want to justify our being "nothing" by our levels of education:
That we have not stepped in a school to receive even the most basic education
Or we may want to define our lives by our failures (and they are many)
Or see ourselves through the eyes of others: the words they've told us, the curses they've hurled at us and the betrayals they have made us experience
Or because of where we have come from: our "fallen" families, the divorces around us and all our failed relationships
Or that all our days we've been being told that we are useless and nothing
And we let drugs define us
And people, and our weaknesses, and pride, and arrogance, and selfishness
And sorrow, and anger, and fury, and unforgiveness and grudges
All in the name of trying to escape being the nothing we've been told we are
But does all this matter?
Does it change our feeling of being nothing?
Does it make us feel worthy, wanted or even better?
Does it draw new portraits of reality: the reality of who we TRULY are?
Does living to satisfy other people's demands of us make us better?
It ain't nuthin
We can't define ourselves through nuthin-ness
We can't thrive if we remain wanting to define our lives through the words and actions of the people around us
It ain't nuthin

Pain will still hold us captive
We will still live in unbelief
Stress will still make us less positive
Life will still give us reasons to find no relief
People will still find us uninteresting
And we will die with blame games and be buried nothing

Listen...

We need to turn around and stop hurting ourselves and paining those we love
I need to do so, you need to do so
Until we realize we are something in God's eyes,
Until we define ourselves through His eyes: how awesome, beautiful, worthy, loved, cared for... we are
Man will never satisfy our crave for identity...
And we'll die nothing, for nothing
It is in God, in Christ, that all our experiences with men unfold our worth
It is only in Him where our pains and our regrets are turned to worth
He clothes us into something, into His children
And He calls us by name;
"Morris, er, (fill in your name), you are something to me
I gave up myself, my life, for you
I love you... I have always loved you with an unfailing love...
I won't give up on you...
Come to me child, I will never give up on you...
You are something to me - you are my child... you can't be nothing to me..."

To sum up, here's Lecrae's outro from Nuthin'
Hey man, the way I see it
I think we were made for mor
Than just, ya know, the simple things that we aspire toward
We were made for more than just telling stories about
How much money we can get by selling poison to people
It's time to talk about who we are and who we can be
And we need to build each other up and not put each other down
I feel like we not talking about nothing right now

And here is Francesca Battistelli's own words in He Knows My Name;
I don't need my name in lights
I'm famous in my Father's eyes
Make no mistake, He knows my name...

That's how the Creator of the universe wants us to define ourselves: we are not nothing , He knows our names. They're written on the palm of His hand...


Bonface Morris.

Baby, You're A Star - Deitrick Haddon (A Review)

As of tonight, I had already decided to go to bed. In fact I had shut down this machine and was going to have that reflection bit of time just before bedtime. But I got reminded to encourage someone. Yeah, I got reminded that someone needs me tonight – or tomorrow morning. Someone somewhere. It is so much in me tonight. So all I am going to write down in this post is going to be for someone who needs it – if it is not for you, just know that it is not – let it remain at that.

When I first heard this song, it struck me as one of those songs D Haddy does in an album just for me – like “One Blood” in Revealed (a 2008 album). It is one of those songs I’d rather sing along to alone than in a congregation. That which I sing to without a keyboard. The one I sing to with my voice raised out so loud – with passion. With a passion so deep that after yelling out loud, I rarely will understand what I just did… By the way, have you ever sung a song with passion? Have you ever tagged passion in song? This is one of those songs you passionately clap somewhere (like that line… “but let me encourage you…”) and feel like it is blowing you away... because it speaks a message to your soul – something about what God says we are… what God ultimately says that I am…

But let me reduce too much story telling on this one.

The song is in a 2011 Album “Church On The Moon” by Deitrick Haddon. It is a great project. One featuring greats like his wife, Damita Haddon and J Moss. It is a D Haddy project but you can always be sure there is Voices of Unity (his singing team) somewhere in the album.

The theme of this song is simple: you are a star, and it doesn’t matter what somebody else says you are. You are a star. You are star material… That’s who you are!

Just to add a little meat, the last time I heard such a message in a song; it was Juanita Bynum singing “It’s Inside of You” from My Passion album (2010) and from Jonathan Butler singing “It’s Already There” from The Worship Project – a 2004 album.

This song says it all: all that we can ever want or need is right here with us no matter what we may think we have ended up to become or what people tend to say (or think) we are. The everlasting God says so many things about us His children, but what we need to be absolutely sure of is that He has said that we are like stars in the sky...shining forth His glory for the whole world to see and know… God is present. He is present. He is our Peace. He is our provider. He is our Healer. He is our God. I believe He is the main light that keeps the hope of brilliance in a dark night that is the present world. If at all God says we are beautiful, we should always believe we are. If He says that we are more than conquerors, we should believe without doubt that we TRULY are. If He says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, we are in that position if we DO believe. We are protected - because He depends on us to shine forth His light – to extend His glory into the dark world. My friend, it doesn’t matter where you are from (your origin or the far you have come), or where you are. It only matters that he is your God, my God, our God, and ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1) because if He has been faithful to keep you (read, ‘us’) up to today, He will keep you (read, ‘us’) tonight, tomorrow, the day after and right over the dark gloom that you (read, ‘we’)  cannot see! He is a God who sees beyond our today and tomorrow - He sees the Big Picture (just as Da’ T.R.U.T.H. says). Just believe that you are a star. Don’t you know who you are? And don’t let nobody tell you nothing different from what you already know – you’re a star!

"Baby, You're A Star"

Deitrick Haddon

Album: Church On the Moon (2011)

[Intro:]
Somebody's out there listening right now.
So please turn your radio oh oh oh. Yeah.

[Verse 1:]
She planned to finish school and get a degree.
Start a business and make her own money.
But somehow her dreams didn't work out that way.
She fell in love at the age of sixteen.
Had two babies and she couldn't believe that the boy she loved is now gone away.
But because you've had some setbacks in ya life.
It doesn't mean you shouldn't let, just let your dreams die.

[Chorus:]
Baby you're a star
Don't cha know who you are
Don't chu let anybody tell you nothin' different, but you know what's in ya heart
But baby you're a star
Don't cha know who ya are
If you could only see what I see, but first you must believe oh you're a star

[Verse 2:]
He graduated at the top of the class
Had everything he needed and more.
And like eagle he was made to soar.
But at the wrong place, at the wrong time
Introduced to a drug that messed up his mind.
Lost so many years now he's makin up for lost time
And you may have fallen on your journey my friend
But let me encourage you to get back up and try again

[Chorus:]
Baby you're a star
Don't cha know who you are
Don't let nobody tell you nothin' different, but then cha know that's in ya heart.
But baby you're a star
That's you ya are
If you could only see what I see, you first must believe baby you're a star

[Bridge:]
You are only human, you're born to make mistakes along the way
And God has blessed you with something that is so pure.
You just need some motivation, and need a little push
To get up off floor and walk through the dark

[Chorus:]
Baby you're a star ooh.
Don't let her tell ya nothin' different, than what ya know what's in your heart
Baby, baby, baby you're a star
You still can read to go, you got to take control
Baby you're a star ohh.
Ah oh. Ah oh.
I know, I know baby you're a star.
That's who you are.
Just make up in your mind that you were meant to shine.
Baby... You're a star
That's who ya are. [Fade]

Lyrics courtesy of http://www.azlyrics.com

Remain encouraged,

Morris.